In May 2018 we went to a Trailer Rally in Alabama, and I talked about it in this post. Beforehand Susan really did not want to go, but in the end, we met a lot of nice people and had a really good time. So, we decided to go to another Fiberglass Trailer rally, this time in South Dakota. Why South Dakota? Because there are so many sights in the area that we had always wanted to see, such as Devils Tower National Monument, Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, and a lot of Native American historical sites.
Jeanine, the rally organizer, did a fabulous job, and her website included a comprehensive list of so many places to see, and we knew we would not be able to see all of them. The rally was organized in two locations in the western part of South Dakota. First, three nights at a state park campground in the southwest part of the state, near Hot Springs, SD, and then four nights at a commercial campground in the northwest part of the state, near Sturgis, SD.
On our way to South Dakota we spent one night camped near Caspar, WY, and then stopped in Hot Springs, SD. We parked our car and trailer in the parking lot for The Mammoth Site museum. We spent an hour there and were very glad we did.
Our guide told us that a sinkhole formed on this site during the late Pleistocene era, and the sinkhole filled with warm water and pond vegetation. Mammoths entered the pond to eat and drink, but because the pond had steep slides of slippery shale, the mammoths sometimes could not climb out and were trapped and died. The sinkhole eventually filled.
In 1974 a construction worker digging to prepare for a new subdivision discovered what turned out to be a mammoth tooth. The landowner agreed to further investigation and they found a complete mammoth skull and tusk, and the landowner agreed to halt the construction project, and donated the land to a nonprofit paleontological organization.
We really enjoyed the tour. They have recovered the remains of 61 mammoths, and many of the bones are left in situ. The scientists have determined that nearly all of the trapped mammoths were young males. Because adolescent males are stupid? Based on the matriarchal societies of modern elephants, they theorize that young male mammoths were banished from the herd, and they then engaged in risky behavior. In contrast, the females’ collective memory in the herd remembers and avoids dangers.
Susan liked the stuffed bear at the museum.
We then drove to our first campground at the Angostura Recreation Area. It was a great campground, with lots of space between campsites. We had a lovely site right on the lake.
We met the other people at the rally and had several gatherings including a potluck dinner. Jeanine, the rally organizer, had loot bags for all of us, and all kinds of info on all the recreation opportunities.
The next day we had a day trip Custer State Park, based on the recommendation of a colleague of mine who said it should be a National Park. After visiting, we agree with that assessment. It was beautiful, and the bison were amazing.
We got caught in a major Bison Traffic Jam.
Where does a bison cross the road? Where ever it wants.
Custer State Park also has the “begging burros,” donkeys who approach cars begging for food. We followed the guidelines of not feeding the wildlife, but it was clear that these guys get lots of snacks.
Native Americans have a long history in the Dakotas, with a culture based on bison hunting. Before our trip we watched the movie Dances with Wolves, to get an idea of their culture 150 years ago.
One of our day trips was to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Our destination was the Oglala Lakota Historical Center, which had amazing reviews on TripAdvisor. The Historical Center has maps, photos, and artwork, and an extended audio tour to guide you through the exhibits. It was very powerful, and we left in tears, saddened by how our government treated the native peoples.
On the way to the Oglala Lakota Historical Center, we stopped at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre.
On the way back to our campground I stopped to take pictures in a sunflower field.
Along with other rally participants, we moved to spend the next four nights at the Rush No More campground (clever name, huh?), near Sturgis, SD. Before the trip, when I mentioned Sturgis to people, several said: “Are you going to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally?” Huh? I had never heard of it. Apparently, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is infamous, and according to Wikipedia, it draws half a million people each year. Fortunately, we missed it, as it occurred several weeks earlier. The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame was listed as a recreational destination on our Trailer Rally web site; somehow we missed that too.
Here are the fiberglass trailers on the grass at Rush No More campground.
We had excellent weather for the most part, but I caught a rainbow after this one storm.
Sturgis is close to Rapid City, the second-largest city in South Dakota. Rapid City bills itself as the gateway to Mount Rushmore, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial is the big draw in South Dakota. At the monument, we heard a ranger talk on the history of Mount Rushmore. In 1923, a local booster wanted to carve a monument to heroes of the American West, such as Red Cloud, Lewis and Clark, and Buffalo Bill Cody. His rationale was to help the state economy by attracting tourism. Boy, did that tourism plan ever work! Fortunately, the local booster met up with sculptor Gutzon Borglum who convinced him to sculpt American Presidents and to use the high-quality granite at Mount Rushmore, rather than the Needles.
There are 2.5 million visitors to Mount Rushmore every year. There are a zillion hotels, motels, campgrounds, RV parks, and probably Airbnb’s. A lot of these visitors are families who spend several days in the area, and a ton of businesses have sprouted up providing recreational activities. All kinds. Old western towns with staged shootouts, the Crazy Horse Memorial, a history museum, another history museum, a drive-thru wild animal park, a steam railroad, a gold mine tour, an air and space museum, a pioneer museum, an old military fort museum, an adventure park with alpine slides, ziplines, and bungee jumping, another zipline park, a wild horse sanctuary, an alpaca farm, a bison museum, a reptile park (alive, I assume), a dinosaur park (dead, I assume), and the Cosmos Mystery Area (whatever that is).
Of course there was a lot Presidential-themed attractions, such as the National Presidential Wax Museum. We liked Rapid City, and the things we liked most about Rapid City were the Presidential statues on downtown street corners. There are 44 past presidents, and 43 statues. Why? You remember that Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd (1885 – 1889) and the 24th president (1893 – 1897)… The statues are nice bronze sculptures.
The Obama stature is new, and I read about it online. The sculpture was inspired by a photo that showed Obama and Sasha walking on a stage at Chicago’s Grant Park on election night 2008.
We did go to Mount Rushmore, and we prepared for it by watching the movie North by Northwest. We expected to see Cary Grant climbing down the cliff, and Susan wanted to ask the rangers where above the scuptures was James Mason’s villian’s house. We even took the obligatory selfie.
Even some Mount Rushmore wildlife.
Our last day trip was to Badlands National Park, and it was amazing. Wonderful photos.
We even saw local wildlife in Badlands:
On our way home we stopped at Devils Tower National Monument. Before the trip, we watched the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As we approached the monument we listened to the music.
It was a great trip, and we would like to visit South Dakota again. We would stay in Custer State Park.